Vocal Music of the

Romantic Period
Introduction

Vocal Music is one of the best

tools for expressing one’s feelings
& this became more evident
during the Romantic period.
Emotional Subjectivity – basic quality
of Romantic Period Composers
explore feelings of grandiosity,
intimacy, unpredictability, sad,
rapture & longing.
**Romantic vocal forms like the
art song & operas were about
fantasy, supernatural, romance &
the nature as mirror of the
human heart.
**The parallelisms of music &
literature were clearly evident
in almost all forms of vocal
music during the Romantic
period.
**Composers interpret poems,
mood, atmosphere & imagery into
music.
**Musical compositions such as the
art song was written for solo voice &
piano
**Romantic artists found
inspiration in landscapes. Their
subjects were traditional myths,
legends & folklore usually dealing
w/ the supernatural, grotesque &
less ordinary
** Vocal music require singers
to perform a greater range of
tone color, dynamics & pitch
** Opera became an important
source of musical expressions
Opera Composers of the Romantic
Period
Franz Peter Schubert
-born on Jan. 31, 1797 in
Himmelpfortgrund
Austria
-died in 1828 in Vienna,
Austria at 31
-Lieder: German word for
songs; is the proper name for
Schubert songs w/c has a
powerful dramatic impact on
the listeners
-considered as the last of the
Classical composers & one of
the first Romantic ones
Famous vocal/music works (lieder):
a.Gretchen am Spinnrade
b.Erlkonig
c.Ellens Gesang III (Ave Maria)
d.Schwanenge sang (Swan Song)
e.Piano pieces, string quartets, operetta
f.Symphony no.8 in B minor (Unfinished
Symphony)
Giuseppe Verdi
-born in Parma, Italy
on October 9, 1813 &
died in Milan, Italy on
Jan. 27, 1901
-studied in Busseto & later
went to Milan where his first
opera “Oberto” was
performed in La Scala
-almost all of his works are
serious love story w/
unhappy ending
-expressive vocal melody is the
soul of his opera
-his characters are ordinary
people
-insisted on a good libretto &
wrote operas w/ political
overtones & for middle class
audience
His much acclaimed works:
a.Oberto (1st opera)
b.La Traviata
c.Rigoletto
d.Falstaff
e.Otello & Aida (written at the
opening of the Suez Canal)
*wrote 25 operas throughout his
career
*his final opera ends w/ “All the
world’s a joke”.
 Giacomo Puccini
-born in Lucca, Italy on
December 22, 1858 to a
poor family
-studied at the Milan
Conservatory
-belonged to a group of
composers who stressed
realism, therefore, he drew
material from everyday
life, rejecting heroic
themes from mythology &
history
His famous operas:
a. La Boheme
b. Tosca
c. Madame
Butterfly
d. Turandot
Richard Wagner
-born in Leipzig, Germany
on May 22, 1813 and died of
heart attack at the age of
69 on February 13, 1883
-attended Leipzig
University
-very much inspired by
Ludwig van Beethoven
-introduced new ideas in
harmony & in form,
including extremes of
chromaticism
-explored the limits of
the traditional tonal
system that gave keys &
chords its own identity
w/c paved the way for
the rise of atonality in
the 20th century
-exerted a strong influence
on the operatic medium
-was an advocated of a new
form of opera w/c he called
“music drama” where
musical & dramatic elements
were fused together
-developed a
compositional style in
w/c the orchestra has
of equal importance in
dramatic roles as the
singers themselves
-the expressiveness is
aided by the use of
“leitmotifs” or musical
sequences standing for a
particular character/plot
element
Famous Works:
a. Tristan and
Isolde
b. Die Walkyrie
c. Die Meistersinger
c. Tannhauser
d. Parsifal
*his work would later
influence modern film
scores including those of
Harry Potter and Lord of
the Rings series
 Georges Bizet
-born in Paris, France on
October 25, 1838 and
died on June 03, 1875 at
the age of 36
-registered w/ the legal
name Alexandre-Cesar-
Leopold Bizet but was
baptized as Georges
Bizet
-entered the Paris
Conservatory Music at a
very young age
-became famous for his
operas
 Famous work:
Carmen
– Bizet’s most famous opera
-when 1st opened in Paris, the
reviews were terrible – the
shows were criticized in
horrible ways that resulted in
poor audience attendance
-Bizet died during the first round
of “Carmen” performances & 4
mos. Later opened in Vienna,
Austria & was a smash hit
-it is now one of the most popular
operas ever written but Bizet never
knew that audiences would come
to consider it as his masterpiece
 Romantic Opera
Opera:
- a story (libretto) told by the
composers through music while
using the words of the librettist
 Romantic Opera
Opera:
- a musical composition having all or
most of its text set to music with
arias, recitative, choruses, duets,
trios sung to orchestral
accompaniment
 Romantic Opera

- usually characterized by
elaborate costumes, scenery
and choreography
Score:
- the book that the composer &
librettist put together. Has all the
musical notes, words & ideas to
help the performers tell the story
-the story unfolds through the
music that the singers sings
-sometimes there is a spoken
dialogue w/o music
-different roles in operas are created
taking into account different types of
voices
-each role requires a different type of
singer, not only be able to sing a given
vocal range but also w/ certain voice
characteristics, color and power
-most dialogues are sang or in recitative style
-certain Aria or solo singing part is what the
public will remember best when leaving the
opera house
-properly & well-sung, a beautiful aria can
bring an audience to its feet & decide the
fate of an entire opera
 Components of an Opera

a.Libretto – the texts of an opera.

Librettist & the composer work
closely together to tell the story
 Components of an Opera

b.Score – the book that the

composer & librettist put together.
Has all the musical notes, words &
ideas to help the performers tell
the story
 Components of an Opera
c.Recitative– declamatory singing
used in the prose parts & dialogue
of opera.
d.Aria – an air or solo singing part
sung by the principal character
e.Duet, Trio, & other small ensemble
f.Chorus – a group of singers or
dancers who take part in or talk
about the things that are
happening on stage
g. Orchestra – a group of musicians
who play usually classical music
together & who are led by a
conductor
h. Acts – main divisions of an opera
i. Scene – setting or place
 Voice Classification
A. For the Male Voice:
1. Tenor – highest male voice
2. Baritone – middle male voice, lies between
Bass and Tenor voices. It is the common
male voice
3. Bass – lowest male voice
B. For the Female Voice
1. Soprano
– highest female voice
2. Coloratura
– highest soprano voice
3. Lyric
– bright and full sound
4. Dramatic
– darker full sound
5. Mezzo-Soprano
– most common female voice;
strong middle voice, tone is darker
or deeper than the soprano
6. Contralto
– lowest female voice and most
unique among female
 Some of the famous artists & their voice classification:
1. Celine Dion – Mezzo-Soprano
2. Tina Turner – Mezzo-Soprano
3. Aretha Franklin – Mezzo-Soprano
4. Luciano Pavarotti – Tenor
5. Maria Callas – Soprano (Lyric)
6. Placido Domingo – Tenor
7. Enrico Caruso – Tenor
8. Andrea Bocelli - Tenor
9. Mario Lanza – Tenor
10. Jose Carreras – Tenor
11. Joan Sutherland – Soprano (Coloratura)
12. Dietrich Fischer – Baritone
13. Johnny Cash – Bass
14. Michael Langdon – Bass
15. James Morris – Bass
16. Samuel Ramey - Bass
Some of the famous artists & their voice
classification:
Mezzo Soprano
- most common female voice;
strong middle voice, tone is darker
or deeper than the soprano
Celine Dion
Tina Turner
Aretha Franklin
Tenor
- highest male voice
Luciano Pavarotti
Placido Domingo
Andrea Bocelli
Soprano
- highest female voice
Maria Callas
Coloratura
- highest soprano voice
Joan Sutherland
Baritone
- middle male voice, lies between Bass
and Tenor voices. It is the common
male voice
Dietrich Fischer
Bass
- lowest male voice
Johnny Cash
Dynamics & vocal embellishments were used to further affect the
way singers sing. Some musical terms are used like:
A Capella
– one or more singers performing
w/o instrumental accompaniment
Cantabile
– in a singing style
Capo
– head, the beginning
Coda
– closing section appended to a
movement or song
Dolce
– sweetly
Falsetto
– a weaker & more airy voice
usually in the higher pitch
ranges
Glissando
– sliding quickly between 2 notes
Passagio
– parts of a singing voice where
register transitions occur
Rubato
– slight speeding up or slowing down
of the tempo of a piece at the
discretion of the soloist
Tessitura
– the most comfortable singing range
of a singer
Vibrato
– rapidly repeated slight pitch
variation during a sustained
note, to give a richer & more
varied sound
Sarsuwela – aka “drama simbolico
- was a traditional theater genre
that dominated the Philippine
scene over 100 years
- first introduced by Dario Cespedes
- storyline was commonly based
on domestic issues often
exemplified a strong sense of
Filipino nationalism and anguish
against the country’s foreign
imperialist
Famous writers of Sarsuwela:
1.Benigno Zamora
- was once chief of the section on
Secondary Instruction and Supervision in
Pilipino of the Department of City Schools.
- Former member of the Institute of National
Language.
- Published his first short story at
the age of eighteen.
- Wrote plays, zarzuelas, essays
and lyrical poetry on themes that
were popular yet charming (love,
faith, and nostalgia for home).
- The last is found in “Ang Aking
Tahanan,” composed while the poet
worked as a spy against the
Japanese during the Second World
War II.
2. Severino Reyes
- “Father of the Tagalog Zarzuela“
A Filipino writer, dramatist, and
playwright, he was highly
acclaimed as one of the giants of
Tagalog literature
 Severino Reyes
"
3. Clodualdo del Mundo
- Liwayway editor, critic, scholar, and
head of TANIW (Taliba ng Inang
Wika).
- Winner of a presidential award on
literature and nationalism.
- Pioneer in modern drama, having
presented the first modern Tagalog
zarzuela, Anong Tamis ng mga
Sandali sa Sariling Bayan, at the
Cultural Center of the Philippines, and
the first modern opera with Balagtas
as hero.
Wrote a great number of “novels” for television,
radio, and the local cinema, receiving the
FAMAS award for one of his stories.
In poetry, he was among the first to write in
free verse. His Ang Kanyang mga
Mata (patterned after the Japanese haiku) is a
gem in its lucidity and restraint.
He passed away on October 5, 1977.
Dalagang Bukid
– is arguably the most popular
sarsuwela in Tagalog

Famous Singers:
1. Maria Callas
2. Kirsten Chenoweth
Famous Artists in the Philippines (Play):
1. Isay Alvarez
2. Robert Sena
3. Monique Wilson
4. Jaime Rivera
5. Lea Salonga – won various awards like Tony,
Olivier, Drama Desk & Theater World awards.
Order of Lakandula Award from PGMA in
recognition of her excellence in her craft & for
using her talents to benefit the Philippine society
Isay Alvarez
Robert Seña
Monique Wilson
Jaime Rivera
Lea Salonga
“Love cast out all fears...
The Filipino people are
stronger than all
typhoons.”
- Pope Francis
Thank You!!!
Mrs. Antoniette M. Binungcal
Teacher 111 – MAPEH
04.20.2023